When a business turns 100 years old, there are few things more refreshing than moving into a new office.
This year, Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Co. and its affiliate, Intermountain Financial Group, are beginning their second 100 years in Salt Lake City and have a new office in the Woodlands One Building, 4001 S. 700 East, to show for it.James H. Woodward, president and general agent in the office, said the new surroundings are a good way to start the next 100 years: they bring the company closer to many clients and improve accessibility to the Provo office. The agency's tremendous growth in recent years and its more than 16,000 clients are the main reasons it needed the new space.
Connecticut Mutual's office in Salt Lake City was established Jan. 1, 1893, the 15th office the company established and the first west of the Mississippi River. Dr. Guy Phelps was instrumental in organizing CM in 1846 when a group of physicians in Hartford, Conn., pooled their resources to assist their survivors in the event any of them died prematurely.
Mutual life insurance companies work on the same principle today, Woodward said, with profits being shared with policyholders in the form of dividends. The first general agent was Fred E. Houghton, who served from Jan. 1, 1893, to Sept. 8, 1898.
What started out as a one-agent office didn't grow much until Hugh W. Pinnock became the general agent in 1961. "Pinnock's enthusiastic personality and astute leadership skills translated into an increase in volume and size each year," Woodward said.
In 1977, Pinnock was appointed a member of the First Quorum of Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and recently was appointed as the second counselor in the presidency of the Europe North Area.
Pinnock hired Woodward in 1972 after persuading him not to attend law school. In 1979, Ray B. Andrus, who had replaced Pinnock as general agent, and Woodward formed a partnership to run the agency. Andrus retired in 1982 and Woodward became the general agent.
The company has grown to nine offices in five Western states, with main offices in Salt Lake City, Provo, Boise, Las Vegas and Bozeman, Mont. Today, IFG collects more than $20 million in premiums and manages more than $200 in investment accounts along the Wasatch Front alone.
CM has had several addresses, including 610 E. South Temple and 15 years in the Elks Building at 139 E. South Temple before making the move to the Woodlands Building.
Since 1980, the Salt Lake office of Connecticut Mutual has been operating as Intermountain Financial Group to more accurately reflect the company's expanded products and services, which include personal financial planning and employee benefit business planning. The staff of 50 specializes in insurance, investments and tax strategy planning.
Woodward said that IFG was formed because the company had developed a large clientele of professional people and businesses who wanted services other than just life insurance.
IFG offers estate tax planning, income tax planning, retirement planning, life insurance, disability income insurance, health insurance and education funding to individual clients.
Profit sharing/401 group health, life and disability, money purchase and defined benefit pension, Section 125 cafeteria, sick pay and executive group carve-out are the company security plans IFG offers. Buy/sell, key person, business overhead, loan collateral and business continuation are the business security plans the company offers.
Under personal security plans, IFG offers split dollar, deferred compensation, supplemental employee retirement, salary continuation, executive bonus plan, voluntary benefit options, family security planning and estate planning programs.
Woodward is a believer in rewarding the work of his employees and recently Steven K. Knudson, director of development in the Salt Lake office, was named associate of the year for "exemplifying the vision statement of the Intermountain Financial Group." Others also were honored.
In 1990, the Salt Lake office began participating in the Blue Chip Enterprise Initiative, sponsored by the national office in Hartford and endorsed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Nation's Business Magazine. Businesses participate by describing how they best utilized resources to overcome challenges and emerge stronger and share the experiences with other businesses.
A Salt Lake native, Woodward received a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Utah in 1972 and wanted to attend law school. Woodward considered himself "fairly ambitious" and decided after meeting Pinnock that he didn't want to "pay his dues" by working his way up in a law firm.
Realizing that everyone buys insurance, Woodward figured that a person who works hard and gets prepared can get ahead in the insurance industry quickly.
Woodward said the insurance industry is more than a person sitting across a coffee table during the evening trying to persuade a customer to purchase some insurance, although that approach has its place. By offering many services through IFG, the company can meet many needs.
Philosophizing about the future of insurance companies, Wood-ward said the insurance industry seems to be stabilizing financially. "Two years ago that wasn't the the case, as evidenced by the number of companies whose financial ratings were reduced," he said.
"As a result, we saw several large companies consolidate or merge, which has contributed greatly to a renewed stability. Companies reduced their junk bond holdings substantially and problem real estate holdings were addressed," he said. This means the industry can weather the cycles better, Woodward said.